Bacon Wrapped Barbecue Chicken Tenders

It’s a mouth full, that’s for sure. But these babies are finger lickin’ good, and in a serious way. Have wet wipes on hand for this or just plan on eating with a fork and knife. Who am I kidding… don’t eat them with a fork and a knife, you want to get messy and lick your fingers because otherwise you’re missing out on part of the fun. Maybe it’s not lady like. Maybe it’s not proper or pretty, but licking something tasty from your fingers is how it should be. It’s right. You don’t eat cheese puffs or Doritos and wipe your fingers clean… or eat messy ribs and wipe your hands, right? What about chocolate? I couldn’t possibly be the only one. If it’s a kid thing, then so be it. Call me a kid.

I honestly wanted to make a salad (so stay tuned for that in the future) but don’t own a grill pan and didn’t want to grill outside. It’s not handy when you have three children running a mock. If I had a grill pan I may have attempted it. Instead… to the oven I went. Chicken meet barbecue sauce, meet bacon. All wrapped up and baked away. It had to be good. Oh and it was. My girls proclaimed it was “mmm mmm de-licious!” The same kid that swears chicken breast has skin and doesn’t want to eat it, insisting it needs to be cut off unless sliced super thin. The same kid that has until now refused bacon… loved this! She asked for it again the next day.

There is no going wrong with bacon. Add sweet barbecue sauce and chicken to the mix and it’s at a whole other level. These are awesome for a quick meal or even an appetizer, but fair warning… you won’t want to serve these at a fancy party. Limit them to your messy back yard barbecues with friends and family or just an average night at home. You might want to make extra, these have a way of disappearing fast.

Bacon Wrapped Barbecue Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

Directions:

Slice chicken breast into thin strips (roughly 3"x1" and 1/4-1/2" thick). If they're too thick, they will take longer to cook and your bacon could burn.

Add barbecue sauce to a small bowl, coat chicken strips in sauce one at a time. After coating in sauce, wrap with a 1/2 piece of bacon as tight as you can. Use a toothpick to secure, if desired. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining chicken strips and bacon slices.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping half way through. *Barbecue sauce may begin to burn to your foil, that's okay... just be prepared for it to happen.

Remove from the oven and enjoy hot. Serve with additional barbecue sauce or other dipping sauces if desired.

It will disturb you to know that my husband eats EVERYTHING (seriously, everything) with a fork and knife. Pizza, fries, chicken nuggets, anything you can imagine as absolute “finger food”. It’s both an OCD germ thing + the fact that he knows it bothers me so he continues to do it.
These look phenomenal regardless of how they’re eaten though :)

Rachel — May 11th, 2012 @ 10:45 am

HA! I bet he gets a kick out of annoying you like that. Some foods are just meant to be finger foods though.

I made these tonight. They were tasty. I used turkey bacon, and there was a lot more liquid released than I thought there would be. Next time, I think I will use a wire rack to keep them elevated, and probably not put on the barbecue sauce until after they are cooked. Thanks for the great idea, kids loved them.

Is the bacon suppost to get crispy? In your pic it looks lioke it is but mine stays soggy.

Rachel — July 31st, 2012 @ 8:01 am

They did not crisp up as if they were pan fried but were fully cooked and slightly flexible. You don’t want them to be too crispy since they would likely become brittle. If you’d like them firmer, cook for 5-10 minutes longer or until desired crispness is reached. Just be sure to watch the chicken so that doesn’t overcook.